February 2012 Newsletter: New workshops, new e-books, new podcasts, and more

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SPIRITIST MANUAL by "Bhima" (Francisco I. Madero), Translated and introduced on its centennial by C.M. Mayo

Here's the official press release:

THE SECRET BOOK OF THE LEADER OF MEXICO'S 1910 REVOLUTION, SPIRITIST MANUAL (1911) BY FRANCISCO I. MADERO, TRANSLATED BY C.M. MAYO (DANCING CHIVA, 2011)

NOVEMBER 11, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MORE INFORMATION: Click here

WHO: Francisco I. Madero, leader of the Mexican Revolution of 1910, and President of Mexico from 1911-1913, author (as "Bhima") of the Manual espírita, originally published in 1911.

The translator, C.M. Mayo, is author of several works on Mexico, most recently, The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire (Unbridled Books, 2009) which was named a Library Journal Best Book 2009. Mayo is also editor of Mexico: A Traveler's Literary Companion (Whereabouts Press, 2006), a portrait of Mexico in the fiction and literary prose of 24 contemporary Mexican writers.

WHAT: The first English language translation of Manual espírita as the Spiritist Manual.

WHY: This year marks the centennial of this book which is, in the words of C.M. Mayo, "an essential work for understanding Madero, the Mexican Revolution of 1910 and his presidency."

WHERE: Cyberspace, space, and Mexico City.

Cyberspace: The book has been published on Kindle, available on www.amazon.com
(Other digital and print editions are forthcoming.)

Space: Madero claims in his book that that is where we all end up, so maybe that's where he is.

Mexico City: C.M. Mayo's office.


WHEN: The book is published today, 11-11-11.
2011 marks the book's centennial.

ABOUT THE SPIRITIST MANUAL

ABOUT FRANCISCO I. MADERO

ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR, C.M. MAYO

Q & A WITH C.M. MAYO

RESOURCES FOR RESEARCHERS

ONE MINUTE VIDEO (TRAILER)




Dancing Chiva Literary Arts
www.dancingchiva.com

June 2011 News

NEW IN THE CATALOG

New in the Catalog:Now for sale as both Kindle and PDF download: "The Building of Quality," the novelesque short story by C.M. Mayo, from the Kenyon Review.

NEW E-BOOK

As PDF download: "From Mexico to Miramar or, Across the Lake of Oblivion," by C.M. Mayo, from the Massachusetts Review, winner of the Washington Writing Prize for Best Personal Essay. (Kindle and iBook editions forthcoming.)
Free to anyone who joins the (also free) Dancing Chiva Literary Arts Club: C.M. Mayo on Creative Writing: The Best from the Blog. Click here to download it now.

Writing workshops: The schedule will be updated soon. C.M. Mayo will also be offering a one day "Techniques of Fiction" workshop at the Writer's Center (near Washington DC) in September. Click here for more details.

New podcast for writers:On Decluttering Your Writing: The Interior Decoration Analogy
C.M. Mayo offers a bit of advice for writers. From the series on creative writing at the Madam Mayo blog. (About 7 minutes.)

Many more free podcasts for writers here.http://www.dancingchiva.com/listen.html

Read more on the Dancing Chiva "news" page.

April News: Q & A with C.M. Mayo, Workshop Sold Out, Free E-Book on Creative Writing

We're getting ready to publish our first newsletter! Want to receive it? Click here to join up! You'll also receive a free e-book, "C.M. Mayo on Creative Writing: The Best from the Blog," a series of inspiring and practical tips for writers.

The May 28th workshop in Mexico City is sold out. Stay tuned for an announcement about another to be scheduled soon.

Read an interview with John Randolph Bennett here.

Also new on the webpage: Q & A with C.M. Mayo


Why did you start Dancing Chiva?
I love making books. I love writing them more than I like making them, which is why, though it occured to me many times, I did not start my own publishing firm. (About a decade ago, I did found a literary journal, Tameme, and from that, took some tough lessons in how much work it really is to edit, produce, distribute, and market a publication.) So why now? Because with the digital revolution, transaction costs have so fallen that everything changes.

I own the ebook rights to not all but several of my own books, and I want to embark on the adventure of formatting / designing them myself. But more interestingly, in researching Miraculous Air, my travel memoir of Baja California, and later, The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire, a novel about Mexico's Second Empire, I came across several books and other shorter works that deserve to be published / republished and yet do not, under the old publishing model—paper printing, distributor, bricks-and-mortar bookstores—have the potential to cover their costs. Some of these are so old that copyright has expired, so for me, the cost of publishing is little more than formatting and uploading. Of course, I'll add an introduction, images, and some other goodies. They will be scrumptious little books.

In sum, though traditional bookstores and publishers are certainly not dead, they are not playing the overshadowing role that they did. For the kind of publishing I want to do—e-books and very small runs of signed editions (marbled paper, etc)— I don't need to pay for freight and a warehouse. I don't need Ingram or Baker & Taylor. I don't need bookstores. What a newfangled publisher needs is a website and a permission mailing list—a base of customers who have provided their e-mail because they want to receive announcements, special offers, and more. I think you'll find it worth your while to sign up for Dancing Chiva's newsletter. And if not, you can opt out instantly at any time.

Have you given up on traditional publishers then?
Not at all because with their expertise and scale, they can do things I do not aim to do with Dancing Chiva. As I said, much as I love making books, I prefer writing them; for this reason, Dancing Chiva is intentionally small scale at the level of administration and marketing. And I have to say, I have been very happy with my publishers, Whereabouts Press, Unbridled Books and, in Mexico, Grijalbo Random House Mondadori, especially. They certainly know how to get the books in the bookstores!

Why publish limited editions?
One of the great luxuries in life is a beautiful book: the heft in the hand, how it delights the eye, and it even smells—fresh paper, leather—divine. Even as I build a larger library of e-books and declutter my bookshelves of all those yellowed paperbacks, I do want to keep certain beautiful books at hand—and I know I am not alone.

Why is Dancing Chiva based in Mexico?
Because that's where I live, when I'm not in Washington DC.

Will you publish works in Spanish?
Yes, and the Spanish language version of this website will go live soon.

Why the name "Dancing Chiva"?
In the hallway into my office, I have an antique painting of a gypsy dancing with a little white goat. I was wondering what to call my company when I happened to glance at the little goat—chiva (female goat in Spanish). It's a play on Dancing Shiva, the representation of the cosmic dance of the Hindu god (no disrespect intended), and very apt, for, to me, making books is a kind of happy little dance.

Read more interviews with C.M. Mayo here.

Follow us on Twitter @dancingchivawww.twitter.com/dancingchiva

March 2011: C.M. Mayo Workshop in May; new release of audio CD "From Mexico to Miramar"

C. M. Mayo's popular "Techniques of Fiction" one day workshop will be offered in Mexico City on Saturday, May 28, 2011. In our shop: PayPal is up and running. You can now pay instantly and safely using any major credit card. We have also re-issued C.M. Mayo's award-winning double CD, "From Mexico to Miramar or, Across the Lake of Oblivion" about a visit to Maximilian's castle in Trieste. For more about our forthcoming Maximiliana, join the Dancing Chiva Literary Arts Club! You will receive advance news, special discounts and more!

Follow us on twitter @dancingchivaas we tweet about #Mexico #publishing #writing #history #ebooks #bookarts #letterpress #baja and #younameit

February 2011 Workshops for Spring 2011

Read all the news here.
P.S. Follow us on twitter @dancingchiva

January 2011 Dancing Chiva's new website www.dancingchiva.com

Our completely redesigned webpage is under construction! We will be launching several e-books and limited editions in 2011.

CATALOG: We invite you to view our catalog, which features forthcoming Baja Californiana, Maximiliana, and Works for Writers.

WORKSHOPS: C.M. Mayo's "Techniques of Fiction" one day workshop will be offered in Mexico City this fall; look for on-line registration on the workshop page soon.

LISTEN: to a new podcast, "Hell, I Knew It Was Paradise," from one of our forthcoming e-books, C. Mayo's widely-lauded travel memoir of Baja California, Miraculous Air.

WATCH: We have now have a YouTube channel. At present it shows "trailers" for books (all in print and available in paperback on www.amazon.com from other publishers) by C.M. Mayo. We will be adding more videos for the forthcoming Dancing Chiva titles in the coming weeks.

READ: more about membership in the Dancing Chiva Literary Arts Club here.

JOIN: Click here to subscribe to the Dancing Chiva Literary Arts newsletter, which will go to subscribers as soon as the website is fully functional. (Please note: we value your privacy; we do not share our e-mail list. Our brief and informative newsletter will be e-mailed to subscribers only 5 - 6 times a year, and of course, you can opt out at any time.)


SHOP: Our e-book titles will be available on iBooks and Kindle (amazon.com), and our own on-line shop will offer some very unusual autographed limited editions. Stay tuned.

Thank you for your interest!